NEWS
March 27, 2009
No tax credit boost for private schools A strong democracy depends on a good system of public education. Maryland's constitution requires that every child be provided an adequate education in free public schools. That is why we take issue with the Baltimore Sun editorial supporting the BOAST (Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers) bill ("A win-win idea," March 22). Reducing the state's general fund by giving tax credits to businesses that donate to private and religious schools isn't good state policy in good economic times.
NEWS
By SANDRA MCKEE | November 13, 2008
It would be nice to know which teams are the best in high school athletics. It would be nice to know definitively whether Loyola has a better football team than River Hill. But would it be fair? I don't think the private schools should be competing for state championships in the postseason with the public schools. Initially, I thought I would be arguing for this. I'm one of those people who want to see a playoff in college football, so we know who really is No. 1. But after thinking about the high schools, which operate under different rules during the regular season, I think the mystery, in this case, should remain.
NEWS
November 4, 2008
Economic crisis erodes our security The Baltimore Sun's editorial "Rescuing homeowners" (Oct. 31) is correct: Homeowners should be given at least as much help as the banks and the financial industry are. But what is missing in most discussions of this problem are the national security implications of the damage done to our economy. Has everyone forgotten so quickly what caused the breakup of the Soviet Union? By looting our economy and bringing it to its knees, the captains of Wall Street, aided and abetted by the Bushadministration and its ideological cronies, have done to the U.S. economy what no terrorist could have ever dreamed of doing.
NEWS
October 30, 2008
School for the Arts HSA pass rate misstated State High School Assessment results released Tuesday misstated the pass rate for Baltimore School for the Arts and did not include three other city high schools because of computer coding errors. At Baltimore School for the Arts, a magnet school, the percentage of seniors who have met the tests' graduation requirements was listed as 67 percent, but Principal Leslie Shepard said only one senior of 80 has not met the requirements. Officials said yesterday that the school had not correctly entered computer codes to indicate that students who transferred from out of state and private schools were exempt from testing.
NEWS
By Cassandra A. Fortin | August 31, 2008
Harford Friends School planned to add first grade this academic year. School officials were looking for four to six students to make up the inaugural class but didn't meet their goal, said Jonathan Huxtable, head of the school. "Only two parents enrolled their children," said Huxtable, who started the school in 2005 in Darlington. "We kind of knew with the economy being so bad, it would be tough. We postponed the addition of first grade until next year." Despite the low turnout for first grade, the school's middle school program is bucking national trends with increased enrollment, Huxtable said.
NEWS
By Michael Cross-Barnet | May 3, 2008
Looking around, this is not where one might expect to find inspiration about Baltimore's future. A vacant lot, tired-looking rowhouses, an old industrial site, a defunct school used most recently as a homeless shelter. But there we were on a warm Saturday morning, in the geographic center of the city - a neighborhood whose main landmark is a graveyard - about 100 sweaty parents and 25 restless kids in a stuffy room of what was once Mildred Monroe Elementary. We gathered during a season of rebirth to plant a seed of change.
NEWS
By Gadi Dechter | March 26, 2008
The Senate gave preliminary approval yesterday to a bill that would allow businesses to receive $5 million in tax credits for sponsoring scholarships at private schools. In about 30 minutes of often-contentious debate on the chamber floor, lawmakers struck down multiple attempts to water down or limit the bill, which opponents say amounts to a public subsidy of private schools. Calling the bill a "sham" that will "chip away at public education in Maryland," Sen. Delores G. Kelley, a Baltimore County Democrat, urged her colleagues to defeat the measure.
NEWS
By Susan Gvozdas | March 2, 2008
The county administration's plan to allow a Baptist church to build a school in Lothian and end a lengthy, potentially costly lawsuit has hit a snag, the Anne Arundel County Council. At least three council members say the school should not be allowed on the winding, historic road, and they are likely to vote against changing the county's policy to comply with the agreement forged with Riverdale Baptist Church. Defeat of the bill requires rejection by four council members, and Councilman Edward R. Reilly, who represents South County, has spent years fighting the church's proposal to build on its property.
NEWS
February 8, 2008
Vouchers open up opportunities Opposing President Bush's school voucher plan, state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick states, "We support public education because it is the crucible of our democracy" ("Vouchers revisited," Feb. 3). In principle, I agree with this patriotic philosophy. However, one important clarification is needed: We must support quality public education. And the sad truth is that in many big cities, including Baltimore, thousands of children are trapped in poor-performing public schools.
NEWS
By Liz Bowie | February 3, 2008
President Bush's proposal to provide $300 million in scholarships to children in failing schools has redrawn the old lines in Maryland between voucher advocates who argue that parochial schools offer a good option for some poor children and those who see them as an attempt to undermine public education. In his State of the Union address Monday night, Bush said he would ask Congress to support the package, which would be called Pell Grants for Kids. "This is a voucher program that is intended to support parochial and private schools under the guise of helping low-income children," said Bebe Verdery, education director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.